Stories of growth: Caribbean Women Writers (3)

Stories of growth: Caribbean Women Writers (3) Individuation through Separation: Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

Outline • Kincaid • About colonialism and Antigua • And her mother • Annie John • “Circling Hand” • “A Walk to the Jetty”

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (1) • Born Elaine Potter Richardson in St. Johns, Antigua in 1949; lived her step-father, mother, and three brothers • father: a carpenter and cabinetmaker • mother: a homemaker and political activist. • Completed her secondary education under the British system

Jamaica Kincaid: Bio (2) • Left Antigua (before its Independence) when she was 17. • As the eldest of four, and the only girl, she was apprenticed to a seamstress, then plucked from school, where she was excelling, and sent to the US as an au pair ("really a servant") • changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing.

Antigua • A lot more blacks than white people; • No experience of “freedom apprenticeship” after Emancipation in 1834. “Freedom was immediate but total.” (Murdoch 99) • A British colony till 1967.

Kincaid on Colonialism & Antigua • Within the structure of the British educational system imposed upon Antiguans, Kincaid grew to "detest everything about England, except the literature" (Vorda 79). • A Small Place: rage at colonialism & the failure of Antigua independence • "But nothing can erase my rage . . . for this wrong can never be made right and only the impossible can make me still: can a way be found to make what happened not have happened?" • “You distorted or erased my history and glorified your own")

Kincaid about her mother • She "should never have had children." • “She loves us when we‘re dying - not when we’re thriving because then we don‘t need her.” • She favors her sons over Kincaid.

Annie John • One central question: What makes Annie change her views about her family and esp. her mother? e.g. pp. 18-19; 136

“The Circling Hand”: Starting Questions • Mother-Daughter Relationship: • What kind of gender model does the mother offer Annie? e.g. p. 13-14; 25 • What role does the father take in this part? • What's the significance of the trunk? P. 20 • What do you think about the mother’s way of teaching Annie? • What does the title mean? What “finishes” her happy childhood and love for the family (p. 32).

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John • Major Factors: • Caribbean society: a male-dominated society in which the men are allowed to be irresponsible about housework, and enjoy sexual relationships outside marriage. • Mother as a social institution to teach her girl to be socialized (= Englishized; lady-like)

“The Circling Hand” • 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25) Examples of the daughter’s complete identification with the mother. pp. 13- 19 -- Physical intimacy (bathing); 14 -- protective 14-15 -- Mother’s gender role model: shopping; doing housework [cooking, washing clothes] p. 13-14; 25; -- admiring the mother 18-19; be like the mother p. 139 -- sharing cloth -- continuation of identity -- the Trunk P. 20 (the mother’s past + Annie’s sourvenir + story-telling)

“The Circling Hand” 1-2 • 1. The symbiotic stage: (pp. 13-25) -- the father’s role – outsider; has a lot of women; -- Someone to be sympathized with; -- Served and mothered by his wife p. 24 “A Walk” -- builds and makes a lot of things in the house; -- p. 132 – 35 years older than his wife; sickly

“The Circling Hand” (2) • 2. Separation: the changes at age 12 • in Annie’s body p. 25; p. 27 • her schooling -- p. 29 • The changes in the mother’s attitudes: • The mother’s distanciation: her dresses p. 26; trunk p. 27; differentiation 28-29 • the mother’s expectations of her: • “young lady business” pp. 28-29 • Housework 29-30

“The Circling Hand” (2) • Why does the mother do this? Is it necessary for the mother to be so stern? • Possible Reasons – • The mother’s preoccupation with housework; • Her failure to smooth the transition from Annie’s childhood to puberty; • Her being influenced by the dominant British values.

“The Circling Hand” (3) • 3. the primal scene • the importance of the circling hand? P. 30 • What role does the father take after this scene? • Context: Annie’s wanting to “reconquer” her mother

The mother’s hand • 1. Mother’s Hands -- taking care of Annie; -- doing housework;  “white, bony, dead, left out in the elements”

Mother-Daughter Relationship in Annie John: Examples • “The Circling Hand” -- Forced to separate herself from the mother; sent to be educated, witnessing the parents’ sexual intercourse (primal scene). • “Columbus in Chain”: mother turned into a crocodile p. 84 • being called a slut by her mother after conversing with a boy -- “Well, …like mother like daughter” (p. 102)

Annie’s independence process • Pre-occupation with death; • Pre-Oedipal symbiosis with the mother • Exploring her own sexuality; Girl friends (Gwen, Red Girl) • Resisting British education (“Columbus in Chain”) • Fascination for the father (112-13) • Illness; grandmother’s (Ma Chess) care-taking -- a substitute for the mother (pp. 125-26) • Leaving Antigua

“A Walk to the Jetty” –Starting Questions • Is Annie’s separation from her family and the past inevitable and absolute? e.g. 130-131 “never” 133-34 “for the last time” • Is it appropriate for Annie to criticize her parents? Are you sympathetic with her hatred of the mother? Pp. 133 • What does she reject in leaving the place? Can you relate to her need to leave the place forever? pp. 144-148

“A Walk to the Jetty” --separation • A. From Mother (“Circling Hand” 1.different dresses—A’s bitterness and hatred 2. Enforced “lady” education — mother’s disappointment 3.stop kid’s talking---awareness 4.after the turning point—“All that was finished” talk back.) 5.complete separation--- “never to be fooled again” “hypocrite” 147 6. Talk back 136 – mother’s image degraded

“A Walk to the Jetty” --separation • A. From Mother • 7. On guard against the mother’s love and expectations 147

“A Walk to the Jetty” –separation (2) B. From the social norm(and oppression) 1.to be a lady  e.g. exploited by Ms Dulcie 138 2.marriage  sexual inequality 3.Gwen p. 137 C. From the past (childhood memory) 1.Gwen 2. The community –does not even want to say good-bye 136-37 3. Childhood memory

“A Walk to the Jetty” • Contradictorysigns of independence + signs of nostalgia in this chapter?] • independence: • Name, address, • separation: her listing of what she “never wants to see”; joy at not having to see them. pp. 130-132.; • her attention at what’s “hers” and what’s on her p. 134-35. • Nostalgia and fear: • the moment of getting out of bed 133 • remembering a lot; • contradictory feelings at the wharf: 144; 145, 147

Walking away from the past (memories, education and transitional objects) • Ms. Dulcie the seamstress, p. 138 • first experience of buying things 139 • saving money • interests that she has outgrown: glasses, porcelain dog, • library •  cannot deny the mother’s good intention in educating her; •  do we need to reject things we are no longer interested in or people who are no longer on a par with us?

Walking to Empty Oneself • Does not know why it is an absolute departure for her 134 • Passing through the place as if she were in a dream 143 • Emptied out at the end

Stories of growth: Caribbean Women Writers (3)